Advocacy

Consumer Goods Council SA statement on BPA in baby bottles

The Food Safety Initiative at the Consumer Goods Council of South Africa (CGCSA) has been following international developments on Bisphenol A (BPA) being a potential carcinogen for some months. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is currently reviewing more than 800 studies conducted on BPA and their opinion is expected in September 2010. The Food and Drug Administration of the United States of America is also conducting a thorough investigation into potential health effects of BPA.

Furthermore, the World Health Organization stated as recently as November 2009 that major regulatory and advisory bodies internationally are in agreement that there is no observed adverse health effect for BPA at 5mg/kg bodyweight per day, based on robust data. This figure is minimally 500-fold above conservative estimates of human exposure, including in bottle-fed infants.

However, even though there is no current conclusive scientific evidence of BPA being a health risk at the current levels of exposure, due to the request from the National Department of Health to the industry to voluntarily remove BPA from baby bottles, the CGCSA proposes that the baby bottle industry takes cognisance of this request. Read about CANSA’s research…

Queries CGCSA

For further information please contact; Dr. Lucia Anelich, Head of Food Safety Initiative (FSI) on 011 789 5777 or la@cgcsa.co.za